Share: mail

A vote of no confidence in the administration was discussed at the Academic Senate meeting on Feb. 25.

English Instructor Steve Pell of the Languages Division, representing an independent anonymous Ad Hoc Faculty Committee, stood before the Senate during open comment section of their meeting and asked the senators to take back to their divisions a ballot on a vote of no confidence in President Mark Rocha.

“The ad hoc committee was formed as a grassroots, democratic and collegial effort and its work is natural progression of two surveys that went out last semester,” Pell told the Senate. “Its sole purpose is to be a mechanism to implement a ballot initiative of no confidence [in] President Rocha. The committee’s charge reflects the overall consensus of the campus-wide faculty retreat on Feb. 1.”

The ballot aims to call attention to the magnitude of the crisis “and the erosion of PCC under President Rocha’s leadership,” Pell said.

A no confidence ballot received by full time faculty last week stated several reasons why the vote should take place.

These included cancellation of winter intersession before the passage of Proposition 30, which has hindered student success and transfer rates. It also claimed that President Rocha and his administration have created an atmosphere of intimidation and repeatedly violated the concept of shared governance, including ignoring petitions by both faculty and students against the cancellation of winter intersession.

Pell added that while faculty are given performance reviews year after year, faculty, staff and students have been removed from the review process for the president; currently only the Board of Trustees is allowed to choose outside evaluators for presidential reviews.

Pell said that the committee hopes that the community will become more involved with the issues and the overall success of the college.

Pell claimed that the Academic Senate has not acknowledged a Faculty Association survey on the issue in which 79 percent supported a vote of no confidence, and that the Senate has taken no action on a survey that it conducted on the same issue.

Asked about information on the Ad Hoc Faculty Committee or whether the Academic Senate will take up the vote of no confidence, Senate President Dustin Hanvey said he could not comment at this time.

Pell urged the senators to take the ballot back to their divisions and have full-time faculty vote by Feb. 26. The Ad Hoc Faculty Committee will publicly announce the results after spring break.

Follow: rssyoutubeinstagrammail

2 Replies to “Senate told of ad hoc no confidence ballot”

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.